WHO IS SHE? She set up and runs Sheffield Live and the Drum at the NCPM. Sheffield Live only broadcasts on the internet (www.sheffieldlive.org) 4 days a week at present but the station should have an FM licence within a year. Her aim for the station is to reflect Sheffield’s diverse community and currently 9 different languages are spoken on air. The Drum is a training facility to produce radio, music and film.

HOW DID SHE GET THERE? “I got involved in women’s rights and black and minority groups in Cambridge. I went on demos and ended up getting involved in a community radio group, which was great, because it gave a chance for local artists to play a variety of music. Seeing the light, I moved up to Sheffield 10 years ago. In 2000 Sharrow Community Forum approached me to cover the live festival. This evolved into Sheffield Live in 2001 and covered all the festivals. For this year’s FM broadcast we had a total of 1,500 volunteers.”

THE UPSIDE: “I love meeting such a diversity of people and what I do helps them to empower themselves. I also get to hear a lot of music I wouldn’t normally hear like swing, big band and classical.”

THE DOWNSIDE: “Fundraising is a pain and the long hours the job demands.”

WHAT’S YER BAG BABY? “Most music except pop. I like rock’n’roll, jazz, blues and off the wall bands like Manuchau, Attila the Stockbroker, Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Miller and Sheffield acts Katz Kieley and the Brothers Devout, Boy on a Dolphin and the Dizzy Club.”

ANY ADVICE? “The radio industry is still about who you know not what you know and becoming a volunteer and gaining experience may help more than a degree. Keep dancing and don’t give up the fight!”

 

http://web.sheffieldlive.org/